by Gretchan Mahan, BEACON STAFF

Some churches in San Antonio have been rapidly expanding, and they have each found different ways to cope with their growing congregations and expanding ministries. Greg Styles, executive director of Concordia Lutheran, says their congregation doubled in the past seven years, and they already had six services Saturday through Monday. Consequently, the church decided to build a larger sanctuary that included the 123-foot cross facing Highway 1604.

“That was our goal, to build a landmark for Jesus Christ with the resources that we were provided,” Styles says.

Eagle’s Nest recently changed their name to Summit Christian and moved to a new building. Lynn Michael, marketing director for Summit Christian, says the church recently purchased the two-story carousel from the old Central Park Mall, put it in the church, and now invites children from various organizations like St. PJ’s Children’s Home to have a fun day filled with face-painting, pizza, and, of course, carousel rides.

“We just want people to know that Christians care,” Michael says. “And when people see that you care, they want to know why you care.”

Other churches including Community Bible Church (CBC) and Oak Hills Church have begun multi-sites, new church congregations across the state that maintain the values of the parent church that planted them.

For example, Oak Hills Church decided to plant two multi-sites, Journey Fellowship on the Northeast side of San Antonio, and Fiesta Fellowship on the West side. The two multi-sites play Oak Hills pastor Max Lucado’s sermons on DVD many Sundays but also allow their individual pastors to preach during the summers.

Additionally, Steve Dye, campus minister for Journey Fellowship and director of Oak Hills multi-site development, says services are designed with the specific congregation in mind. “Journey Fellowship has been an example to renew and refresh our ministry style,” he says. For example, Fiesta Fellowship has a bilingual service in English and Spanish. And Journey Fellowship was designed with community service in mind; four Sundays a year, instead of meeting for church, the congregation goes out into the city for community service projects.

“We felt like that was what Jesus did,” Dye says. “He didn’t go gather people in buildings. He went out to where they were.”

CBC built a larger sanctuary for their Gold Canyon campus in 2003 because of their attendance growth. But Phillip Williams, pastor of multi-site leadership at CBC, says CBC saw a need to expand further. “The current location experienced both physical and spiritual growth,” Williams says. “There was a need and demand for more ministry positions and ministry opportunities.”

Since then, CBC has developed a plan to create 100 multi-sites throughout the state and nation within the next eight years. They currently have 11 multi-sites, some as far as Corpus Christi and College Station.

Williams emphasizes that multi-site churches are no less important than the original camps at Gold Canyon. “There are more activities at the Gold Canyon location than there are at the other sites, but each one seeks to provide the ministry needs of that particular church and community,” he says. Michael of Summit Christian, says expansion of churches throughout San Antonio, including Summit Christian, has nothing to do with church competition.

“We don’t consider this a showpiece as much as we consider it a net,” she says, adding that a new building and good technology can bring in curious people. “We’re delighted to see when other churches grow. That just means that God is moving.”